Very few physical attributes convey a sense of strength and presence like a v-shaped torso. You know the kind I’m talking about, with a lean waist and powerful lats and shoulders. There is a famous story about a figure in the early days of bodybuilding who had five jerseys made for himself, one that stopped just below his chest then each one slightly longer than the last, in order that he would walk around always looking far more built in the upper body than he was. If this is the look you wish to achieve without the use of tailored knitwear, there are a few considerations you are going to need to base your training around.

1. Build Your Lats.

Those muscles at the top of your back, just under your arms. You need them to get bigger, they’re going to build the line towards the top of the V. The best way to do that is chin ups. A lot of chin ups. Add multiple sets into your training routine, and repeat as often as possible. On top of any other training you’re doing, make sure you’re regularly hitting the chins. Even on leg day.

2. Build Your Shoulders.

It’s all well and good building that nice line towards the top of the V, but without a noteworthy set of shoulders to finish it off, your torso fizzles out like Britney Spears career, just at the point where it looks like it’s going all the way. You’re going to need to hit your traps and your delts here, a good set of traps makes the shoulders look powerful, but delts are going to provide width too, so shrugs alone are never going to be enough. Lat raises, barbell presses and dumbbell presses need to be included in your program on a regular basis as well.

3. It’s All About Proportion, Lean Up Your Waist.

As much as I’m talking about building the lats and shoulders, the look we are discussing here is one of proportion, so time spent building these areas is only half the battle if your waistline is growing along with them. Plenty of time spent focusing on deadlifts, squats and other compound movements for the entire body will help burn that fat, as well as a few conditioning sessions and my next point…

4. What Are You Eating?

So what you’re trying to do here is put on muscle and drop body-fat. You’re going to need plenty of protein to build that muscle, and you’re going to need to keep your carbohydrate consumption in check to ensure you don’t eat any more than you need for energy. Plenty of lean protein, good fats, and carbohydrates timed and portioned according to your training schedule.

5. Work Your Obliques.

As your body fat drops you want to be sure that every line in your body that adds to that V-look is accentuated. This means your obliques (that v-line that comes up from the top of your jeans). You need low body fat to uncover the muscles around your stomach, but you need to work them to build and accentuate them. Russian Twists and Windscreen Wipers can be a great asset here.

6. Don’t Neglect Your Legs And Chest.

Why? I thought we were focusing on that V-shape? Well firstly, you may have noticed that your chest is a central player in that area of your body. You’re going to struggle to build a noticeable torso with half a chest perched on the front of it, but secondly, muscle everywhere is going to benefit you in this endeavour. The more lean muscle you have, the more testosterone you produce, the more testosterone you produce, the more muscle your body can build. This is one of the reasons you don’t want to neglect your legs either. Legs are the biggest muscle group in the body, they are a test producing factory if you treat them right. What you do with your legs is going to impact massively on the gains you make with your upper body, and even if it didn’t, do you really want a body that looks like a Dorito with two matches glued to it?

Me neither.

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